The world is reacting to the stunning news of actor and comedian Robin Williams’ death. The Chicago native was found dead at 12:02 p.m.. Pacific Time Monday, at his home near Tiburon, Ca. The Marin County Coroner’s office investigated, and Williams death was ruled a suicide. Williams had been suffering from severe depression, and recently entered a rehab facility to […]
White Sox now dead last in TV ratings, with Cubs right behind them It’s been a tough summer for local Chicago television. First, Chicago viewers are turning off local news in greater numbers (and as a reward, we’re getting more news!) And now, they’re turning off local baseball – again – as both the Cubs and the White Sox continue […]
Also: CBS 2 adds “Good Wife”, “Blue Bloods” to weekend late fringe On the surface, CBS 2’s decision to expand their weekend newscasts would be greeted with as much enthusiasm as driving on the Eisenhower. But to the political advertising community, the news of a another news expansion was like waking up on Christmas morning. As first reported by Robert Feder Tuesday […]
Tribune finally divides into two separate companies – introducing Tribune Publishing and Tribune Media Meanwhile, WGN Radio sinks to historic ratings low Say goodbye to the Tribune Company as you’ve known it for 66 years. As of Monday, the entity has split into two companies: Tribune Publishing, which handled print, and Tribune Media, which handles television and radio – […]
Maybe Chicago viewers are tired of hearing about all the shootings and murders. Maybe viewers are tired of the constant weather hype, even when its nice and only 75 degrees. Maybe viewers are tired of the Breaking News and Developing Story monikers every four goddamn minutes. Or maybe viewers are just tired (and […]
Two Midwest media companies combine as media merger frenzy continues to sweep the nation In the latest media hookup, Milwaukee-based Journal Communications announced a merger with Cincinnati-based E.W. Scripps. With the merger, the newspaper division would be spun-off into a separate company. Once everything is said and done, Scripps would would own and operate 34 television stations in 24 markets, […]
The final commercial network to present at TCA did so Monday, and FX had a lot to say, with panels for a whopping nine shows (yours truly won’t be able to cover them all here, so here’s the selected stuff:) – Exec session: John Landgraf took the stage and talked about where his network stood – and it was looking good […]
Attention viewers: baby mama drama time may soon be over. As reported by TVNewscheck on Friday, Tribune Broadcasting may not renew its contracts for its three conflict talk shows from NBCUniversal Television Distribution, hosted by Jerry Springer, Maury Povich, and Steve Wilkos. Neither Tribune or NBCUniversal had comment. Tribune is developing programming for time slots in 2015 and according to […]
Fox came into the 2014 press tour finishing the most recent season in fourth place – despite airing the Super Bowl. With new entertainment presidents Dana Walden and Gary Newman not yet ready to take the reigns, somebody had to take one of the team – and that someone was Peter Rice. – Executive session: Rice came out and talked […]
Friday was two other CBS Corp. other properties presenting their wares at the tour: co-owned CW and premium channel Showtime. CW –Executive session : Mark Pedowitz addressed the critics and looked a happy man: despite a rocky future ahead (a possible Tribune defection and the future of co-owner Time Warner) – his network was up 14 percent in total viewers and […]
Even though many people view CBS’ primetime time lineup with about as much excitement as watching an ice cube melt, their TCA Press Tour presentations are something different entirely. There were a lot of people here on the hot seat, including CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler and Dawson’s Creek creator, Kevin Williamson, whose new show (Stalker) drew the wrath of […]
Also: Hollywood Daily Live, Daily Helpline debut to microscopic audiences In a rather unusual move, Tribune-owned WGN-TV has slotted Craig Ferguson’s new game show, Celebrity Name Game from Debmar-Mercury at 10 p.m., starting September 22. As first reported by Robert Feder, Name Game would replace the failed revival of The Arsenio Hall Show, which was canceled in May. While other […]
It was ABC day Tuesday at the 2014 TCA Summer Press Tour, with the network bringing out the casts of several new shows to meet the hordes of TV critics. – Executive session: ABC Entertainment President Paul Lee met with the press and talked about a wide variety of subjects from the cancellation of Trophy Wife (let it go, already!) […]
The broadcast network portion of the TCA 2014 began Sunday, and the tone of the press tour changed quite a bit – there was a little more bite in these sessions, as one journalist squared off with a star of a new show and the network entertainment chief whined why his network gets no love. – Executive session: NBC Entertainment […]
The Television Critics Association’s Press Tour got underway last week at the Beverly Hills Hilton in Beverly Hills, Ca. For the next two weeks, TV and media critics will be listening to executives talk a lot of BS, see actors whining, and asking tough questions while tweeting away. But there is also the potential for some fun moments (remember a Downton […]
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